Graham Hunter told Revista Pep Guardiola deserves every tribute after guiding Barcelona to the double.
Pep principles have paid off in style, says Hunter
Graham Hunter told
Revista de la Liga that Pep Guardiola has been a revelation at Barcelona and exceeded all expectations.
The Catalan giants are one step away from securing a treble after winning the Copa del Rey and being crowned La Liga champions at the weekend.
But after the opening two games of the season it all looked so different - Barca made their worst start to the season in 25 years and Guardiola came in for some stinging criticism.
Spanish-based football journalist Hunter recalled: "One of the things that I brought to you at that time was the way in which the Catalan press immediately turned on Pep Guardiola.
"After the draw at home to Racing, the defeat to Numancia, the Catalan press were really hungry for his blood; they went after him.
"Not only did no-one expect such a triumphant, attacking, successful season with maybe a treble. What they thought was 'this guy's a dud'.
"One of the first signals I saw that Pep Guardiola could cope was his calmness, his ability to take the barbs, deal with them, shrug them off, and get on with his business."
Principles
Guardiola was only appointed Barca manager last June and Hunter has been impressed with the manner in which the former midfielder has coped with the demands of a club with such high expectations of success.
"About a year ago I was worried about this 38-year-old's ability to control the dressing room, to control the characters; to manage such a volatile dressing room," reflected Hunter.
"So first of all I have to say what a human resource management triumph has been done by this young man.
"Secondly, I think that when you are true to your principles in football, don't buckle and you achieve success - that's something we have to stand back and admire because of the amount of pressure they are under from fans, from media, from sponsors, from teams like Real Madrid who just refused to give up the chase.
"These are the measures of the achievement. They've had their share of injuries, they've had one or two problems. There were one or two times when the players fell short of Pep Guardiola's standards. He just sailed regally through all of it.
"It doesn't happen often; it's not just what this team has done, it's the style with which they've done it that really marks this team out as special to me."
Style
The title was effectively won at the start of May when Barcelona finally put paid to Real Madrid's impressive pursuit by beating their nearest rivals 6-2.
"Real Madrid had only one chance," said Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, "that was to get the three points from that game and I think Juande Ramos got the tactics wrong.
"They went for Barcelona. They put pressure high up on the pitch and thought they could at least avoid defeat but Barca enjoyed themselves and played in the wonderful style that Graham was talking about. The one that Guardiola said that he was going to impose as soon as he arrived.
"He gave the leadership of that side to the people who had been at Barcelona a long time, like Iniesta because he wanted to play that style - the one that they had played since they were 11.
"You saw the culmination of that, the mixture of the bible of Cruyff plus a little of Rijkaard in that game. Even Raul said 'that was great football, that was special'."
